1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a module capable of switching circuits and particularly to a module capable of switching audio output circuits.
2. Related Art
The so called data processing device of the traditional computer only has the limited functions of word editing, data processing, calculating, and simple picture processing and the like, which cannot meet the demands of the masses sufficiently. As the functions of computer become increasingly stronger, the speed thereof becomes increasingly faster, the price thereof becomes increasingly lower, and the computer becomes more and more popular, more and more corresponding demands of people have emerged. People not only hope to be capable of listening to music and watching movies while typing but also hope to be capable of drawing without pictures, which has even become the current main trend of computer development.
Thanks to the continuous development of technology, since the emergence of the windows operating system, multimedia computer has become the core of the industry development. Till now, under the design trend of thinness, lightness, shortness, and smallness, portable computers have become the requirement of modern people. In order to deal with this trend, the portable computer has been further miniaturized by the computer manufacturers and has become a notebook computer that occupies an area approximately the same as that of a notebook. Although the function of the notebook computer is almost the same as that of a desktop computer, the notebook computer can be put into a portable case or a handbag, which meets the demands of business people who want to use computers everywhere.
In order to increase the operational convenience of the user, general notebook computers at present are all provided with built-in loudspeakers, built-in MICs, and two I/O ports (an earphone for outputting signals and an external MIC for inputting signals). When a user wants to enjoy a multimedia file (for example, DVD (Digital video disc) or VCD (Video Compact Disc) and the like) of a notebook computer or wants to listen to music at a short distance, the audio can be output from the built-in loudspeaker or the external earphone; or when a user wants to input audio data to the notebook computer, the input thereof can be done via the built-in MIC or the external MIC. The basic equipments of a notebook computer, such as the display, the optical disc drive and the loudspeaker, can serve as terminal equipments for playing different types of files (such as video and audio files) when accompanied with the play program loaded in the operating system. However, as understood by users skilled in computer operation, a music optical disc can be easily played with the above basic equipment of a notebook computer when placed in the notebook computer, and this basic equipment can be used as audio devices.
Thanks to science and technology, multimedia science and technology has been generally used in various aspects, such as cellphones and MP3 (MEPG Audio Layer-3) players, which have become quite popular merchandise because of their characteristics of lightness, thinness, and convenient carrying. However, the audio output devices of the above mentioned products are miserable, as they are neglected just because of the pursuit of delicacy and smallness, and this is one of the main reasons of complaints from users. Since the audio output device cannot be improved, it will destroy the audio output quality, and accordingly it is impossible for the user to enjoy a perfect acoustic quality.
For our ears, sound is a vibratory waveform. It causes change in the density of atmospheric pressure through vibrating the air, and the sound is transmitted into the human ears via the air, thus we can hear it. From the point of view of physics, sound can be denoted by pitch, volume, and tone, and is often referred to as an analog signal. While for the computers that can only identify 0 and 1, sound becomes a series of numbers that must be converted from digital signals into analog signals through a conversion procedure, and must be output from a loudspeaker before it can be heard. With the development of the notebook computer, the functions thereof have been almost the same as those of the desktop computer till now. Generally, the sound boxes are designed in the notebook computers, and the acoustic quality of the loudspeakers is good enough to perfectly express the audio signals. Under this conception, the notebook computer is no longer just a word processor stressing portability, but also a portable multimedia center. However, the external output port (MIC) of the present notebook computer is seldom used, and the output function of the MIC is often neglected. As for the conventional technology, when a user wants to enjoy the music of MP3, he/she can only enjoy the music through the earphone that outputting the audio signals. If one wants to play the music via a notebook computer, the file format thereof must be converted through a transmission line, which will occupy a relatively large space of the memory of the notebook computer and will also bring the user a significantly complex procedure in operation. The above problems are just what have to be improved immediately according to the conventional technology.